Pelosi clarifies remark on Newt’s past

They buried the hatchet for a climate change awareness ad, but those days between Newt Gingrich and Nancy Pelosi appear to be over. The frenemies jabbed each other today over Pelosi’s threat to dish out the dirt on Gingrich’s past transgressions, ultimately prompting a clarification from Pelosi’s team.

“Leader Pelosi was clearly referring to the extensive amount of information that is in the public record, including the comprehensive committee report with which the public may not be fully aware,” said Pelosi’s spokeswoman Karina Newton. In other words, his public ethics report does damage on its own.

The Republican presidential, ostensibly unfazed by House Minority Leader, called her remarks an “early Christmas present” and threatened to bring her up on ethics violations.

“That’s a fundamental violation of the rules of the House and I would hope that members would immediately file charges against her the second she does it,” Gingrich fired back.

The whole tiff began when she told TPM, “I know a lot about him. I served on the investigative committee that investigated him, four of us locked in a room in an undisclosed location for a year.” She promised to reveal those details “when the time’s right.”

In 1997, the House slapped Gingrich with an unprecedented $300,000 fine for violating federal tax law and giving the ethics committee false information.